Chapter 268 - - Breaking Defense 266_1

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Friendship: The bond between friends; Synonyms: camaraderie, fellowship, amicability;

Discrimination: Unequal treatment; Synonyms: contempt, disdain, scorn;

Two meanings of words flashed through Duge’s mind.

Yet another pair of conflicting keywords!

It was fortunate that the two keywords belonged to two separate souls, preventing any linkage or conflict during the growth in attributes.

Otherwise.

High-minded plunder was one thing.

But discriminating against one’s own friends, that was harder to justify.

Before Duge could delve deeper into how to utilize the two keywords, he encountered a depressing reality.

He had none of the memories of the individual whose body he had taken over.

What’s happening?

On the Alien Battlefield, he clearly had the memories of his third senior brother, so why were they gone in the simulation?

Could it not be due to the Divine Soul, but rather caused by the simulation itself?

Duge’s brow furrowed slightly.

But soon, he let it go, as from now on, his main battlefield would be the Alien Battlefield. Since no one dies in the simulation, having memories or not didn’t really matter.

Besides, his possession was of a celebrity, and in this world connected by networks, gathering his information would be all too easy.

On Earth, Duge’s knowledge of celebrities was limited to the songs they released, the movies they acted in, the scandals they were involved in; he knew nothing of their daily lives or job specifics.

However.

Most celebrities have their own managers, and the woman beside him was likely his manager.

At that moment.

The manager was busily tapping away on her smartphone.

Duge glanced at her screen, which displayed an account on a social media platform akin to Weibo.

At that moment.

She had just finished typing a message and posted it: “Life presents many beautiful scenes. Don’t complain, don’t mock, and don’t envy others. Strive to be the most positive version of yourself and make each day count. Let’s encourage each other—Cheng Yu.”

The message was accompanied by an image of him practicing martial arts in the morning sun. His handsome face exuded a carefree attitude, and the pose he struck looked quite authentic.

But having experienced several worlds, Duge had little regard for such postures; in combat, how could moves be so aesthetically pleasing when the focus was on how to defeat the opponent swiftly?

While performing a backstab, if he struck a beautiful pose, the enemy might have already turned around.

Soon, fans began to comment:

“Hubby is so handsome, love you hubby!”

“Hubby oozes charisma, I like this phrase.”

“Hubby, keep going, ignore those mad dogs. Your acting is always the best; we are always with you.”

“All he has is a good-looking face, and he dares to act in action scenes? With that frail body, I could knock him down with one finger. Please don’t insult action scenes.”

“It’s said that this guy uses a stunt double all the time. Isn’t it better to just be a traffic star honestly? Why squeeze into action movie circles? This is just asking for trouble…”

…

Duge glanced at the number of followers on the account—over ten million. This figure was nowhere close to Earth’s top influencers.

But for a simulation environment, if all those people were real, it was already quite significant.

In the Doomsday Simulation, Duge’s trade had snowballed, and in the end, he wasn’t even sure if there were ten million people.

Having a base of ten million followers was an impressive start.

Duge tried clenching his fist and didn’t feel a hint of strength. It seemed he might be just as the netizens commented—a complete fraud.

But with 120,000 spiritual power nourishing his body, Duge could feel his constitution improving bit by bit.

However, this change was way too slow compared to the enhancement from attribute grinding.

Seeing his action, the manager chuckled, put away her smartphone, and said, “Don’t mind those guys. Sour grapes. Nowadays, who actually does real fighting?”

Duge gave her a look, took her smartphone, snapped a photo of the watch on his wrist, including the car logo in front as well.

Then, he composed a new message and sent it out: “Can you afford a car like this? Can you wear a watch like this? No offense, but anyone who sees this message is trash.”

The manager beside him was stunned by Duge’s move as she desperately tried to snatch the smartphone from his hands: “Cheng Yu, have you gone mad? Do you realize what you are doing? You’ll ruin yourself, delete it quick…”

But it was too late.

The moment the post was sent, Duge felt his attributes skyrocketing, and his personal panel, which he had never closed and was previously ranked 17th, shot up to first place in the blink of an eye.

He was also rewarded with an additional 200 spiritual power.

But the change from two hundred hanging behind the 120,000 wasn’t eye-catching at all.

Discrimination is the second keyword.

Duge entered the simulation for what, if not to bring out the attribute of the second keyword? So, let friendship go to hell, discrimination was the focal point of his development.

Of course.

To cover up the second keyword, friendship still needed to be developed as necessary.

But for Duge, making friends was the easiest thing.

He had experienced three simulations, one Alien Battlefield; no matter how much those enemies despised him at the start, didn’t they all become his friends in the end?

As for Cheng Yu’s career, he would spend at most two more months in this world; the most important thing was to level up his skills, then find the main storyline to end the simulation early, and see if there was a chance to start the next one. Was he really going to act and sing?

Duge easily held down the arm of his agent who was trying to snatch the phone, quietly watching the situation ferment.

“Husband, what’s wrong with you?”

“Husband, did they anger you?”

“Husband, don’t be angry, okay? I will scold them for you…”

“Moron, I’m freaking going to die of anger because of this idiot, I’m a dog if I ever watch a movie he’s in again.”

“With no support, you’re nothing.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t secure my dog properly and it disturbed everyone. I would like to earnestly apologize to you all.”

“If Cheng Yu can still be popular after this, we all share the responsibility.”

“Cheng Yu is done for life.”

“Suggest a ban on Cheng Yu.”

“Fan turned hater.”

“I want to see how long this guy can keep hopping around.”

…

“It’s over.” The agent had given up struggling, looking at Cheng Yu with a face full of despair, “Cheng Yu, you win, no need to hold on to me anymore. I see it now, you’re a freaking lunatic. Do you know how much the company invested to promote you? You’re finished, the company won’t let you off…”

A ringtone sounded.

The incoming call was from “President Wu”.

Duge thought for a moment before handing the phone back to the agent.

The agent gave him a glare and answered the call on speakerphone.

An angry voice came through the earpiece, “Zhao Hongmei, what the hell are you thinking, posting such nonsense?”

“President Wu, don’t be angry, it wasn’t me, Cheng Yu posted it himself,” Zhao Hongmei said grievously, “He might have been provoked, I couldn’t stop him…”

“I don’t care if you couldn’t stop him, find a way to fix this mess for me right now, do you know how much money I’ve spent on bringing him up? Tell him, if he doesn’t earn the money back for me, I’ll flay him alive!”

A busy tone followed.

It was the furious President Wu who had hung up the phone.

Zhao Hongmei eyed the trending topic created by Cheng Yu, looking at the fans’ abusive comments below, sighed with a troubled expression, and silently hit the delete button. Then she started to compose an apology, “I’m sorry, everyone, my account was hacked just now…”

But after only a few keystrokes, she quickly deleted it; a photo had revealed Cheng Yu’s hand along with the picture – nobody would believe a hacking excuse.

And as she deleted the topic, in that short while, her previous post on the microblog had already been overrun by enraged fans. Comments like “Think you’re great because you have money?”, “Drop dead”, and “Unfollowing”, took over the entire screen.

She resignedly turned off comments, then tried to edit an explanation, but unsure of what to say, she could only glare fiercely at Duge again, “Look at the mess you’ve made.”

At this point.

Turning off commenting had become meaningless.

Cheng Yu was a public figure, countless pairs of eyes were watching.

Once his insulting post about the fans was published, many traffic-hungry influencers, news media were on it like leeches scenting blood, rapidly sharing and commenting on his microblog content.

The incident exploded and spread across the entire internet at breakneck speed.

Duge ignored the troubled agent, knowing only that his attributes were also increasing exponentially. In a world with the internet, creating topics and leveling up attributes was just too easy.

Meanwhile, a new skill appeared on his personal panel:

Breaking Defense: When your words break through the opponent’s psychological defenses, you can easily provoke their hatred towards you.

I knew discrimination wouldn’t come with any nice skills.

After all, how could discrimination possibly earn you any favor from the other side?

Duge shook his head; it was not too bad, though, he had gained another taunting skill, even more useful than Honest Man’s Rage. After his combat videos went public, there likely wouldn’t be many on Qiyuan Star who would still consider him a pushover.

As for the next advanced skill, he should give it some thorough thought – it should at least have some substantial effects.

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